Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Sells 22,571 Shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System cut its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 11.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 179,530 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 22,571 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $12,610,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 10.1% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 6,284,421 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $441,983,000 after purchasing an additional 575,892 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP boosted its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 730.4% during the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 5,954,600 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $336,375,000 after purchasing an additional 5,237,500 shares during the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec boosted its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 158.1% during the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 2,709,659 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $153,069,000 after purchasing an additional 1,659,716 shares during the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 81.6% during the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 1,981,130 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $111,914,000 after purchasing an additional 889,953 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 63.1% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,962,302 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $137,832,000 after purchasing an additional 758,893 shares during the last quarter. 75.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Performance

Shares of WFC stock opened at $71.08 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $233.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.21, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $75.86 and its 200 day moving average is $69.19. Wells Fargo & Company has a 12 month low of $50.15 and a 12 month high of $81.50.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $20.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.58 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a net margin of 15.73% and a return on equity of 12.38%. Wells Fargo & Company’s revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.86 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Wells Fargo & Company Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 7th were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.74%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WFC has been the topic of several analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $62.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Compass Point boosted their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $60.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $81.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $74.39.

About Wells Fargo & Company

Wells Fargo & Co is a diversified and community-based financial services company, which engages in the provision of banking, insurance, investments, mortgage, and consumer and commercial finance products and services. It operates through the following segments: Consumer Banking and Lending, Commercial Banking, Corporate and Investment Banking, and Wealth and Investment Management.